The pressure was so intense that multiple staffers told ethics investigators that working for Richardson had affected their health, their families and had even “shaken their faith” in the government.

“It has really put me in a really bad state of mind as to how I look at the country in which I was born. ... My hope is that anyone else who ever decides to work as a public servant does not have to endure what I had to endure,” Miller said during his interview.

“As a service-connected disabled veteran, it is sad to say that I [would] rather be at war in Afghanistan than work under people that are morally corrupt,” one former staffer said in a letter of resignation attached to the investigative subcommittee’s report.

Correction: August 2, 11:30 a.m.

An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the date on which Richardson met with investigators. The meeting happened in mid-June.